11th seeded Kim Clijsters of Belgium plays Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova in the third round of the Australian Open 2012. The match will be played on Friday, January 20.
The Belgian defeated Maria Joao Kohler of Portugal in the first round 7-5, 6-1 before dropping only one game in disposing French player Stephanie Foretz Gacon 6-0, 6-1.
Hantuchova, seeded 20th in the tournament, was stretched to three sets in each of the two opening rounds. She won 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 against American qualifier Varvara Lepchenko in the first match and then overcame the loss of the first set again to beat Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenka. Hantuchova won 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Clijsters and Hantuchova go a long way, having played each other 11 times since 2000. Hantuchova’s only win came this year but that was when the Belgian had to retire from the match due to injury after winning the first set.
On all the previous occasions barring one, Clijsters ran away straight-set winner over Hantuchova. It was only once, way back in 2002, that Hantuchova managed to take a set off the defending champion in the final at Filderstadt in Germany. But since then it has been Clijsters all the way.
The two have played at the Australian Open once earlier – Clijsters winning 6-1, 7-5 in the fourth round of the 2007 edition.
The Kim Clijsters v Daniela Hantuchova Australian Open women’s singles third round match will be played on Friday, January 20. The match starts at 7 pm local time.
